Q. I think I have a desktop gremlin that periodically hides a document. I have Windows XP, and once in a while I will want to go to a document I had placed on my desktop and it is not there.

I know there is an option to hide desktop icons but I never use that and besides, when I have experimented with it, all icons go into hiding – not just one. I wonder if there is something I am doing that causes this to happen.

-Dale J. Harrington, Benicia, Calif.

A. Move your mouse arrow out onto the desktop and give it a right-click, Mr. H. Select the Arrange Icons By command in the display that appears. Select Auto Arrange in the next menu.

Behold, the prodigal icon has returned to the file flock. Where was this errant creature? During the course of using the desktop as a catch-all for icons, we sometimes fill up all the visible room but the icons still exist just off the screen. The Arrange Icons command lets one force all the icons to snap to a grid, and that brings the wanderer back into sight.

Sometimes the problem is caused by using Windows to make a change in the monitor’s resolution. And sometimes the hardware adjustment buttons on the monitor itself get set a tad awry. For other readers, one can right-click on Start and pick Explore to call up the Windows module that displays all of the contents of folders like the desktop as a directory list.

And that sometimes-handy command you mentioned that stops showing all of the icons can be called by putting the cursor arrow in the toolbar at the bottom of the screen and giving a right-click. Among the commands this summons is one to hide or show the desktop. This is great for keeping your sensitive stuff from casual visitors.

Q. I have tried without success to print and copy my Outlook address book. I am upgrading and want to have all the addresses handy for the new computer. I use Office Professional.

-Paul Sanders, Germany

A. Open Outlook and then click the box commands in the upper right of the display to the Maximize setting. Now click on the top of the window and drag it so Outlook is off to the side on your desktop. Go to the desktop and right-click and pick New and then Folder. Call it Backup or something.

Now open your address book and hold down the Control key and tap A to select all items there. Now hold down Control and tap C to copy it all into memory. Next open your new folder and then do a Control + V to paste copies of all the contacts there.

After you get your new computer up and running, just open Outlook and repeat those moves backwards, and when you paste inside the empty contacts box, your v-cards will once again become a contacts list.

As to printing them, once they all are selected, just press Control + P (for Print) and you’ll get a printout in the form of a raw text file with items.

Now for some rare elegance in this space:

Outlook has built-in features that not only will print hard-copy lists of contacts, but will do so in several useful formats. These include a small book, a larger book and a two-column phone book style. These commands are kept as options in the Page Setup command under File in the main Outlook display. Everybody with Outlook who hasn’t done this should drop this newspaper and do it now. Not only is it blessedly convenient to have one’s contact list on paper, but that hard copy serves as the ultimate backup for this precious data.

(Contact Jim Coates via e-mail at jcoatestribune.com or via snail mail at the Chicago Tribune, Room 400, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago IL 60611. Questions can be answered only through this column. Add your point of view at www.chicagotribune.com/askjim.)

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AP-NY-09-22-04 0721EDT